FashionX Runway takes on its second year

Dec. 6, 2023, 1:19 a.m.

The team behind FashionX, a campus organization geared toward students with an interest in the fashion industry, is in the midst of eager planning for its Feb. 22 runway show.

Last year marked the inaugural FashionX Runway, an event designed to highlight creative student innovation in the realms of fashion design and production. Themed “The Other Side: The Grass is Always Greener,” the event drove hundreds of students to the Cantor Arts Center for an evening that The Daily described as “a fantastical night centered around celebrating student fashion” showcasing designs “[seemingly] larger than life.” 

This year, the event will take place at Memorial Church, with a capacity of 1200 audience members. FashionX plans to release tickets for the runway show, as well as the theme and dress code, in early winter quarter.

According to Runway marketing team member Sophia Rosenkranz ’27, the location of the show is a distinctive feature of the FashionX vision. 

“Every single show, from what I’ve understood, is at an important, iconic Stanford location,” Rosenkranz said. “It’s never a conventional runway, which is really unique.” 

The coming months will be busy for designers, leadership and models, as the team remains hard at work creating innovative pieces for the runway. FashionX leadership intentionally imposes minimal oversight over design and production, according to co-president Olivia Wang ’24, as a way of providing designers with agency.

“We don’t want to be creating boundaries or limiting [the designers’] creative processes,” Wang said.

Each designer has the option to either independently select their own models or choose from a curated repository of interested FashionX members. The event will feature work from 50 designers, displayed by over 90 models with a range of modeling experiences. 

The FashionX runway welcomes models of all experience levels, equipping models with the resources and training needed to ensure a smooth performance. Most recently, FashionX hosted a workshop run by an experienced campus model that covered the basics of posture, walking, posing and more. 

A group of FashionX models practice runway walking as part of a workshop held in the d.school.
A group of FashionX models practice runway walking as part of a workshop held in the d.school. (Courtesy of FashionX)

Model Eugene Francisco ’27 did not anticipate venturing into modeling at Stanford or beyond, but when his close friend designer Mikey Taylor ’27 approached him with a proposition, Francisco found himself immersed in the world of runway. 

“He asked if I’d like to model for him for FashionX, and I had no idea what FashionX was at the time, but I was like, you know what, this is definitely not an opportunity you get very often,” Francisco said. “Most universities don’t have a fashion club with so much hype around them.”

After last year’s sold-out runway, FashionX is eager to build upon the legacy that they’ve begun creating. 

“What we were really excited about last year was hearing from the audience who said that [the show] was one of the most unique Stanford events they had ever been to,” said Runway director Montanna Riggs ’24. “It was refreshing to dress up with friends, see some crazy looks and buy into this world of fashion.”

Nika Farokhzad '27 is a beat reporter for Campus Life covering the faces of Stanford, a weekly installment profiling a campus student, faculty or staff member. Contact Nika at news 'at' stanforddaily.com.

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